Helping James
by hollbets
Summary: James Potter needs help. He goes to Lily Evans in the hope of finding it. Lily/James


**So this is my first ever Harry Potter fic. I normally write Bones fanfictions (but naughtily haven't done for a long, long time.) I thought I'd try something a little bit new to get back into writing and so far I'm actually enjoying writing this! Hopefully you guys out there will also enjoy it! Let me know in the review box down below, feedback is always appreciated but obviously I'd much prefer constructive criticism than the nasties! **

It hadn't occurred to Lily in any way at all that things would work out the way that they had. She had never imagined that she, Lily Evans, the perfect student, the best friend of many and generally straight-minded individual, would do something as ridiculous as what she was planning on doing. No, scratch that; the sensible, straight-minded Lily Evans wouldn't even _think_ about doing what she was planning on doing. Or, more specifically, what she was planning on agreeing to.

It was practically the same in her book. Whichever way you looked at it, it was rash behaviour on her part. More seriously, it was completely against what Lily would normally believe in doing.

Generally speaking, Lily was a sensible girl. She stuck to the rules, she always worked as hard as she could, she tutored those who needed it and she was well-liked by her peers. Merlin, she'd even gone the entire time during her six years at Hogwarts without getting a single detention. She was the _definition_ of sensible.

You name it; she was it, she'd done it or she knew it.

It was one of the reasons why James Potter was so obsessed with her, and he made absolutely no effort to hide this fact. She was perfect- perfect and unattainable.

So, all of this considered, why was she about to agree to _help_ Potter of all people? He was, after all, the same James Potter who had followed her around incessantly for the last six years of her life, the same James Potter who cursed anyone who had the audacity to get in his way. He was the same guy that she swore blind she hated more than anyone else in the school, and perhaps even in the world. His obsession (and desire to show off to her at every opportunity) quickly lead to her repulsion towards him and to an outsider this fact didn't look likely to change at any time soon. It didn't _mean_ that her opinions had changed.

_Obviously. _

Obviously she still hated every ounce of his being. Obviously she still detested the ground that he walked on. There was nothing that she wanted less than to encourage him and his affection towards her, and she had convinced herself that agreeing to do as he had asked would actually have an adverse effect on him. She believed that it would finally make him leave her alone, would make him see her as a different person and as a result, she would be free of his advances.

_(As if.)_

It just meant that she was willing to try new things. Bring herself out of her comfort zone.

_Right Lily. You keep on telling yourself that. _

She had been expecting him to be waiting for her that evening in the Gryffindor common room, after the celebrations had subsided. It was the third year in a row that Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, mostly thanks to Potter himself. There was absolutely no chance that James Potter would go to bed without gloating and showing off to her about it first, as if the mere fact would encourage her to fall head-over-heels in love with him.

What she wasn't expecting was for him to smile at her politely before asking if he could join her, nor had she expected, when she agreed to his wishes, that he would position himself a full sofa seat away from her. Personal space and James Potter were two things which, normally, did not go hand in hand with one another. She struggled to keep her surprise under control and glanced quizzically at him from the across the table that separated them.

"What do you want, Potter?" _Manners, Lily_; her mother's voice in her head reminded her and she wasn't surprised to hear James express the same sentiment. She laughed (and consequently shook her head to indicate that it didn't matter) when she saw his look of confusion.

"Lily." He looked almost hurt by her abruptness. "I don't really know how to say this, to be honest with you. I never thought I'd have to ask you this, and quite frankly, I'm a little bit embarrassed." He bit his lip and looked at her once more. Lily raised her eyebrow questioningly but he didn't continue.

"Do I have to force it out of you? Look, Potter. You came here looking for me. I couldn't care less what you've got to say right now, so if you're going to just stand there gawping and looking embarrassed then I'll save you the trouble and just go straight on up to the dormitory to get some kip." However, she made no effort to move towards the spiral staircase that led up to her room. He took this as a sign to continue, albeit staring at the ground as he spoke.

"I need help." Embarrassment.

"You need help." Scepticism.

"Yes. I need help." Amusement.

She found it funny how quickly he grew in confidence. It only took one small glance at the look of disdain on her face for him to go back to twiddling his thumbs in embarrassment again. _Aha! _

"You need help with what, exactly? Homework? Getting out of detention?"

"No. Wait, you can get people out of detention? Wait, never mind. Of course you can. And completely irrelevant right now." He sighed and glanced at the boys staircase, as if considering chickening out on whatever it was that he was so worked up about asking her. Apparently he decided against this, as he too did not move.

"Come on Potter, it can't be that bad."

He sighed again, eyes on the floor, and brushed his hand through his hair; the nervous habit that Lily hated so much but everyone else in existence seemed to find so captivating and endearing. Finally he looked up at her and caught her eyes, not allowing them to break away from his glance.

"I need help with a prank."

**Thanks so much for reading everyone! – Hollie.**


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